Pusztai affair

The Pusztai affair is a controversy that began in 1998. Protein scientist Árpád Pusztai went public with the initial results of unpublished research he was conducting at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, investigating the possible effects of genetically modified potatoes upon rats. Pusztai claimed that the genetically modified potatoes had stunted growth and repressed the rats' immune systems while thickening their gut mucosa. Initially supported by the Rowett Institute, his comments on a British television programme caused a storm of controversy, and the Rowett Institute withdrew its support. Pusztai was suspended and misconduct procedures were used to seize his data and ban him from speaking publicly. The institute did not renew his annual contract and Pusztai was criticized by the British Royal Society and some other scientists for making an announcement before his experiment was complete or peer-reviewed and for the experiment's design, methodology and analysis. Some of the data from the study was eventually published in The Lancet in 1999 after five out of six peer reviewers approved of the study – triggering further controversy. Before 1995, no peer-reviewed studies had been published investigating the safety of genetically modified food using human or animal feeding trials. In 1995 the Scottish Agriculture Environment and Fisheries Department commissioned a £1.6 million three-year research study to assess the safety of genetically engineered Desiree Red potatoes. The potatoes had been developed by biochemist John Gatehouse at Cambridge Agricultural Genetics (later renamed Axis Genetics) and had recently completed two years of field trials at Rothamsted Experimental Station. The GNA gene from the Galanthus (snowdrop) plant was inserted into the potato, allowing the GNA lectin protein to be synthesised. This lectin has been shown to be toxic to some insects. (Further research along the same lines - inserting further antifeedant-producing genes - was performed over the next few years.